VICTORIA - On the day that Premier Christy Clark released the critical review of her ethnic outreach strategy, the party communications office circulated confidential suggestions to Liberals on ways to turn the embarrassment to their advantage.

“Premier’s leadership versus Dix’s ducking,” was the headline on the for-your-eyes-only set of “talking points” for Liberals. What followed set the tone for pretty much everything they would say in the wake of last Thursday’s release of the findings from a quartet of deputy ministers.

Point one: “The premier promised a full review on the draft multicultural strategy and she delivered it. The premier has taken decisive action.”

Two: “The NDP had a multi-year strategy to divert local constituency funds to a political slush fund in Victoria. They used these local funds to pay the multicultural outreach contract of a twice-failed and current NDP candidate. Over the years, Gabriel Yiu received over $327,000 from funds taken from local constituencies.”

Three: “Today’s report is about a draft strategy, most of which was not implemented. Some of the lines between politics and government were blurred, and action is being taken to correct it.”

Four: “Expanding multicultural outreach to BC’s diverse communities is the right thing to do, but mistakes were made on how it was being implemented.”

Five: “This is a leadership moment for both leaders.”

Six: “Premier Clark has taken leadership to fix mistakes, and done so openly.”

Seven: “Adrian Dix was part of a scheme to divert constituency funds to a political slush fund. He refuses to apologize, refuses to be accountable for his party’s action, and refuses to demonstrate any leadership.”

Thanks to a timely leak, I had a copy of those points in hand as question period unfolded in the legislature Thursday, allowing me to tick them off one by one as the Liberals went through the motions.

Premier Christy Clark, riffing on points one, three, four and six:

“When this came to light, the first thing I did was make sure we did everything we could to get to the bottom of it, because the essence of leadership is not to hide. It’s not to run away. It’s not to deny responsibility. It’s to accept responsibility when something wrong has been done and then do everything you can to make it right. That is the definition of leadership.”

Cabinet minister Bill Bennett covering bases two, five and seven:

“The NDP have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They have been siphoning off constituency office funds for five years. The members’ manual states that those funds cannot be used for political purposes ... When are they going to order an investigation, and when are they going to apologize, and when are they going to pay the money back?”

Like they were reading from a script, isn’t it?

Last Thursday also saw the Liberal communications office distributing a line of response to that day’s opinion poll from Ipsos Reid, showing the governing party trailing the Opposition by a ruinous 19 points.

“Two polls, two different stories,” was the headline, atop talking points that urged Liberals to refocus attention on a rival poll from Campaign Research, reporting a mere five-point lead for the New Democrats over the Liberals.

“This poll was in the field on the day the NDP were caught in a scandal diverting funds from their constituency offices for partisan purposes,” said the party missive.

“Regardless of the poll results today, what really matters is what voters decide in May,” it continued, full of hope. “Recent elections in Canada see dramatic change during the writ period — Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and at the federal level.”

This week brought the leak of two more sets of Liberal talking points, dealing with entrepreneur David Black’s ambitious proposal to establish an oil refinery on the B.C. coast.

One touted the results of an independent review of the $25-billion development: “The proposal is real and has the potential to create thousands of jobs in B.C.”

The other swatted the New Democrats for their lack of enthusiasm for Black’s proposal, citing a comment from Opposition energy critic John Horgan.

“But I think it’s irresponsible to assume because the guy has an idea that it’s going to be successful, because that’s not the track record of private sector investment,” read the carefully selected quote from a longer interview with Horgan on radio station CKNW. “Everybody’s got a good idea ... As they say, there’s a sucker born every minute.”

Then the talking point: “For the NDP to tell investors not to bring good ideas to British Columbia sends the wrong message. To say the private sector has a bad record of creating jobs is disrespectful. And to belittle investors with credible ideas by calling them suckers is irresponsible.”

Horgan’s words, wrenched from context, serve as a reminder of why parties strive to keep everyone on message in a campaign where every stray comment is grist for the partisan mill.

But those efforts, like the messy details of sausage-making, are not necessarily flattering when aired publicly. After reading the above cited missives, one could be tempted to ask any Liberal candidate, “is that you talking, or just your talking points?”

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Vaughn Palmer: If their lips are moving, the Liberals are following a script

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